Page 11 of Claimed By Night

“We’ve got an hour. No more questions.”

My wings are gettin’ real tired, soze I float over to his shoulder an’ try to take me a seat on one o’ them enormous things but he flick me away with a big finger right to my gut. Which make me feel like all those mushrooms I ate this mornin’ are gonna come back with a vengeance!

“Don’t do that,” he warns with a glare.

Well, excuse the fuck outta me for gettin’ tired an’ lookin’ for the nearest bench! I don’t say nothin’, though. I just start up flyin’ again, feelin’ real sorry for myself.

Part o’ me feels like callin’ him out on bein’ a prick but then I’m thinkin’ he might flick me harder if I does. Plus, he sort o’ doin’ me a favor, I guess. Well, more like he doin’ the angel a favor. But I know this ain’t for her, neither. Dragan ain’t exactly the charity type. Soze it’s really more like he doin’ hisself a favor, ‘cause he must realize this angel could be the answer to overtakin’ Variant.

Not that I think Dragan’s all bad. One thing I hears over an’ over agin ‘bout the King o’ Shadow is that he be honorable. An’ before Variant took control o’ the three realms, it was common knowledge Dragan was the most powerful o’ the four o’ em. I just hope he’s still got some o’ that power left—an’ I really hope he got some o’ that honor left, too.

We walk through stone hallway after stone hallway ‘tils we reach a wide-open room o’, you guessed it, more stone. In the center o’ the stone floor’s a whole bunch o’ branches all piled up, like the God o’ Kindling just airdropped Dragan a gift.

Soon as Dragan walk into the room, the branches suddenly start consumin’ theyselves in fire. The flames engulfin’ the branches ain’t really burnin’ the wood, though. It’s like they’re ghost flames, ‘cause while they lappin’ at the wood, they ain’t burnin’ it. An’ the flames are blue which is kinda weird, too.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“The Pyre of Shadows,” he answer like I should know what the hell that mean.

No sooner do he say the words than I watch his guards start shufflin’ toward the pyre in single file. They’re walkin’ at a good clip, like they ready to jump over it or somethin’. ‘Course, the pyre’s pretty high. Like, it would reach their waists easy, soze I dunno what they’re thinkin’ but they definitely ain’t gonna make it if they try ta jump. They’ll have some deep-cooked balls though, that be for sure.

They keep walkin’ closer to the pyre like they ain’t too worried ‘bout their gonads. As soon’s the first one touch the flames, he disappear! Like “poof,” he gone!

“Where’d he go?” I ask as I turn to face Dragan, who don’t look too concerned.

“The flames transported him to Anona’s. Once all of them go through, we’ll follow.”

“An’ the pyre ain’t gonna burn me?”

“Did it burn the others?”

“I dunno. I can’t see ‘em, ‘cause they be on the other side.”

“You won’t be harmed,” he answer with little interest.

Dick.

CHAPTER FOUR

FLUMPH

Shadow Realm

Soze we go through the Pyre of Shadows, even though I ain’t rightly sure why it be called that. It ain’t like it be burnin’ with shadows. It should be called thePyre of Blue Fireor maybe thePyre that Ain’t Gonna Burn Ya Balls. Regardless, after I crosses over, I’m happy ta see I still be the same Flumph I was from the other side.

“Well, I’ll be a witch’s titty,” I say when I recognize the backside o’ Anona’s tavern. I turn to my right to see Dragan standin’ there. “That Pyre jist takes you wherever?”

“You preconceive your destination before you set foot into the fire and then, yes, it takes you wherever you want to go.” He clear his throat. “Only if you possess Arcane Magic, that is.”

“I thought the whole idea o’ Variant banishin’ you to the Gorge was to keep you banished?”

Instantly, Dragan’s jaw tighten ‘til it look like he gonna crack his demon molars. “I’m a master of magic,” he grind out.

“So?”

“So, the Pyre of Shadows was my answer to finding a way out of my banishment,” he say, all pompous-like. “Variant can banish me all he wants but there’s nothing he can do to keep me from honing my craft.”

“’cept turn you to stone after an hour?”

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